Replenishable metal brush



April 12, 1938.

G. M. PHELPS ET AL REPLENISHABLE METAL BRUSH- Filed Feb. 1, 1937 IN YEA/TOPS:

s ZWW Ml w G Patented Apr. 12, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application February 1, 1937, Serial No. 123,471

6 Claims.

This invention relates to devices in form of brushes in which bundles of metal pieces are used as the contacting parts.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a brush so designed that the contact members are free to move sufficiently to reduce breakage of the contact members.

Another object is to provide a brush in which the contact members are yield-able endwise.

5119 Another object is to provide a brush in'which the contact members are mounted so that they can be replaced.

Other objects will appear from the following description and appended claims as well as from L! the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. l is a longitudinal mid-sectional view of a brush according to this invention.

Fig. 2 is an end view in the direction of arrow 2 of Fig. 1.

20 Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the mounting disk.

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of one form of con tact member.

Fig. 5 is an illustration of the difierent parts of the device shown in Fig. 1, removed from the holder, one contact member of the greater number used in the complete brush being shown only.

Brushes of the type disclosed here are used for many different purposes, such as burnishing, but, more particularly, for removing carbon from in- 30 ternal combustion engines.

Contact members, used in such brushes, are commonly subjected to quite material stresses, pressure being appliedendwise to an extent to bend the contact members, and, when firmly 35 mounted in a holder, the individual members are subject to breaking at points where they just protrude from the mounting.

The yieldable mounting of the brush-members within the holder produces therefore several ad 40 vantages.

For one thing, any one of the individual contact members is not exactly bent at all times at the same point of its length, since the contact member is able to move lengthwise back and forth 45 within the mounting.

For another thing, the individual contact member is not necessarily bending towards the same side or direction all the time.

The holder 6 is of a simple form, but not neces- 50 sarily of that form, depending rather on the requirements of the trade, of larger or smaller type, and also varying in the general outline for different uses.

As shown, it is provided with a pin-end 1 that 55 may be made to fit any driving mechanism, such as a drill press, and, of course, when the holder is to be used in connection with other driving machinery, this connecting end must be changed accordingly.

The whole outside is largely of immaterial design and depending on the requirements for different uses.

The inside of the holder is designed to hold the different parts shown in detail above the holder in Fig. 5. 10

There is, in thefirst place, the spring 8, disposed in the bottom of the holder, as illustrated in Fig. 1. On top of the spring there is a washer 9,

which weprefer to have of resilient material for reasons to be explained later on. This washer should preferably'be of a size to readily move axially within the holder 6. A disk ill serves to securely inclose the spring 8 and washer 9, besides being provided with guiding means l, in which a number of contact members are mounted. 1

The contact members are made of any suitable material, depending on the use to which the whole device is to be put, and requirements of the trade.

For brushing and cleaning metal surfaces, as is the case when removing carbon of internal combustion engines, the contact members are preferably of steel wire, of suitable hardness and flexibility, the front end of any contact member being plain, while the other end is bent, as indicated at I2 on the contact member. 13 illustrated in Fig. 5.

Such contact members may readily be inserted with their straight and plain endsl l through the apertures, forming the guides ll in the disk H), with the bent-ends l2 abutting against the inside face of the disk when the 'disk is secured in place within the holder 6 as illustrated in Fig. 1.

The thickness of the disk It is sufiicient to furnish ample bearing for the inserted contact members to not unduly tilt and still be readily shift- 40 able.

In other words, in each of the apertures forming the guiding means for the contact members in the disk In, contact members are inserted only to a number to still be readily shiftable, in Fig. 3, for instance, only three contact members being indicated at '35., this, of course, depending on the thickness of the contact members and on the size of the bore of the apertures forming the guiding means, and more or less guiding means may be provided, depending on the size of the disk and of the whole device.

The holder 6 is provided with a shoulder l5, against which the disk abuts, thereby being firmly held in place, while the contact members are shiftable in the guiding means II, and the washer is also shiftable against the tension of the spring 8.

A suitable pressure applied upon the ends IA of the contact members l3 results in a shifting of the contact members within the guiding means H, through the disk It, with the ends l2 of the contact members transmitting the pressure and therewith the shifting movement upon the washer 9, which will also shift against the tension of the spring 8. a

With frequent shifting, no particular point of the length of any contact member is really sufficiently long in a position to become crystallized at such a point due to undue frequent bending at the point against the edge '16, indicated in Fig. 1, reducing breakage of contact members in such a brush.

The loose mounting of the contact members involves furthermore the advantage that the different contact members may spread to different positions, to contact different points of a surface worked upon, resulting in a more even brushing over the surface. a

It should beunderstood that the bent-ends of the several contact members and the guiding means in the disk are proportioned and arranged so that the different contact members may turn about their axes without the bent-ends l2 of the different contact members [3 interfering materia1ly,so that the contact members are not only free to shift axially within the guiding means but may also'turn to quite an extent, in all contributing to a longer life of the contact members without breaking.

Having thus described our claim:--

1. In a brush, a hollow holder provided at one end with means by which it can be held and the opposite end having an opening, a closing member removably disposed in the opening and having perforations, wire bristles of elongated form shiftably fitted in the perforations and with abutments disposed within the holder whereby the wire bristles are prevented from passing throughand falling out of the closing member, a spring in the hollow of the holder for maintaining the wire bristles in operative position with the elongated portions protruding from the holder through the perforations and with the abutments shoulderingi against the inside face of the closing member, and an insertion between the spring and the abutting ends of the wire bristles.

2. In a brush, a hollow holder provided at one end with means by which it can be held and at the opposite end with an opening, a retaining member in form of an apertured disc removably invention, we

the wall'of the holder disposed in said opening, a plurality of wire bristles with elongated bodies disposed shiftably in said apertures to protrude from the holder and with abutments to engage against the inner face of the retaining member, a spring in the hollow of the-holder to act against the ends of the wire bristles, and an insertion between the spring and the Wire bristles, the mounting of the wire'bristles in the apertures of the retaining member being such that the wire bristles may turn about their own axes while shifting.

3. In a brush, a hollow holder having perforations in a wall, resilient means back of the perforations in the hollow of the holder, and wire bristles shiftabl mounted in the perforations and protruding from the holder and having stops at their innermost ends disposed between the Wall and the resilient means for retaining the wire bristles operatively in the holder axially shiftable through the wall against the tension of the resilient means.

4. In a brush, a hollow holder having perforations in a wall, resilient means within the hollow holder, a washer yieldably supported by the resilient means against the perforated wall, and wire bristles shiftably" mounted in the perforations. and protruding from the holder and having stops at their innermost ends abutting against in one direction and against the washer in the opposite direction under the tension of the resilient means.

5. In a brush, a hollow holder with an opening, a closing member removably mounted in the opening of the holder and having perforations, resilient means within the hollow holder, an insert between the resilient means and the perforated closing member, and wire bristles shiftably mounted in the perforations so as to protrude from the'holder and individually having stops at their innermost ends abutting against the closing member in one direction and against the insert in the opposite direction under the ten sion of the resilient means.

6. In a brush, a hollow holder with an opening, a closing member removably mounted in the opening of the holder and having perforations, resilient means within the hollow holder, an insert between the resilient means and the perforated closing member, and wire bristles shiftable axially and individually turnable in the perforations and thereby mounted so as to protrude from the holder and individually having stops in their innermost ends abutting against the closing member in one direction and against the insert in the opposite direction under the tension of the resilient means.

'GEORGE M. PHELPS.

WILLIS NANCE. 

